Sky to get pro12 games?

[Gael]

The big thing that Sky can offer is top class production. And if the unavailability of matches on TV can drive up attendances for teams like Edinburgh or Dragons, we might end up with a pretty sharp product in comparison with the joke shop that it is now.
If there are only a few matches being broadcast per weekend, they will probably be tempted to show the matches with the best predicted attendance, (because empty stadiums look awful on TV) which would be good for the Irish provinces.
As far as league coverage, promotion of the league and general all round hype making, we would be looking at unrivaled quality in this part of the world for (basically) homegrown rugby. They really might be able to do something with the build up for matches of two teams missing 8 players each to international rest periods. It's those fixtures that I believe are the worst thing about the league and the reason outsiders don't like it.
For the doubters, sure there are plenty of things to be skeptical about...
But imagine - Ulster v Leinster at a packed 18,000 capacity Ravenhill, 7.30 kick off on an April Friday night. Half an hour of build up with Sean Fitzpatrick discussing the breakdown and Will Greenwood talking about how the three quarters will fare against each other, and then a bit of Stuart Barnes talking about Jackson v Gopperth - with a few minutes talking to Gusher and Tyrone Howe at pitchside about the importance of the match in terms of the playoff positions and the Ireland team.
Bit of Andy Gray and you're sussed.

[Scholar]

..and in wide screen!

[tighthead]

It isn't a coincidence that all of Ulster's HEC home games this season have been on Friday evening.

Except for the one against Northampton on a Saturday.

[ColinM]

It isn't a coincidence that all of Ulster's HEC home games this season have been on Friday evening.

Except for the one against Northampton on a Saturday.

Aye and then look what happened.

[bigchiefally]

What's a "big" game though? Top of the table clash or the one with the biggest Sky subscriber base?

If the former, it's entirely up to the squad... The latter and we might not see much of Ulster in a season.

Why do you think that?

Belfast is actually the 10th biggest "urban area" in the UK, 11th biggest in Britain and Ireland. In Celtic League terms Dublin/Leinster is a good bit bigger, with a big interest in rugby. Glasgow is a good bit bigger as well, but without such a rugby interest. Belfast and immediate surroundings are bigger than any other Celtic league team, so unless there is a much lower sky subscriber % than other areas we should be just fine.

Plus Sky love a big atmosphere at games, so Friday nights at Ravenhill will continue to interest them.

[BaggyTrousers]

I'm not convinced by the "smaller TV audience" idea. In the same way as many of us watch the turgid shyte produced in England, I'd imagine many Sassenachs will watch our superior product in the same way as they clearly watch S15. Clearly a potential internationbal market too given SKY's areas of operation, North America & SH.

Consequently I believe the market for national rather than local advertisers would be bigger & potentially allow SKY to bring greater funding to the league. Have to confess to not having given that much thought but it seems reasonable. Further a large multinational broadcaster rather than a hotchpotch of regional broadcasters & a few crank garbled language broadcasters must be hugely more attractive for advertisers.

I have no doubt that there is the potential for this to boost a competition that has bumped along without sponsors and mixed broadcasters. the fact that the current situation is the best that it has been shouldn't blind us to the fact that it could be much better and most interestingly remove the bias that is irksome with the aforesaid hotchpotch of broadcasters.

Local inconveniences such as not all matches being broadcast could be a boost to filling an 18000 stadium. KO times too may not be the problem some think. SKY would look for the biggest audience, both at the game & on TV so it is in their interests not to try to reinvent the wheel with root and branch changes to local spectating habits.

I can see benefit, surprisingly for a glass half empty man, I find myself positive about the possibility. Certainly there is no question that the programme quality would improve, I find the 5 minutes before & after totally inadequate on the rare occasions I can't get to Ravenhill.

[AyeYerMa]

What's a "big" game though? Top of the table clash or the one with the biggest Sky subscriber base?

If the former, it's entirely up to the squad... The latter and we might not see much of Ulster in a season.

Why do you think that?

Belfast is actually the 10th biggest "urban area" in the UK, 11th biggest in Britain and Ireland. In Celtic League terms Dublin/Leinster is a good bit bigger, with a big interest in rugby. Glasgow is a good bit bigger as well, but without such a rugby interest. Belfast and immediate surroundings are bigger than any other Celtic league team, so unless there is a much lower sky subscriber % than other areas we should be just fine.

Plus Sky love a big atmosphere at games, so Friday nights at Ravenhill will continue to interest them.

Northern Ireland generally is tiny market. We seldom, if ever feature in broadcasters plans unless they're mandated to cover us.
Rugby is a minority sport amongst a minority audience so I don't imagine we'd feature particularly highly.

[mikerob]

I took a look at Sky and ESPN coverage of the next 4 rounds of the AP to see what we might expect if Sky do pick up the rights.

ESPN show 2 games each weekend; Sky show 1.

Worcester and London Welsh aren't covered at all. Leicester have all 4 of their games covered and Quins, Saints, Wasps and Sale have 3 out of 4 games. The remaining 5 teams are covered once or twice.

They haven't published the coverage of the regular season final weekend yet, when all games kick-off at the same time.

[aarons]

Is there any reason to think they wouldn't give other games the Red Button treatment, as they do for the Heineken? It works for them there.

[AyeYerMa]

They don't appear to on the AP.

[mikerob]

... just to add to what they do in the AP...
2 / 12 games were on Friday evening
4 / 12 games on Saturday afternoon
2 / 12 games on Saturday evening
4 / 12 games on Sunday afternoon

However Friday night games are less popular in the AP anyway. They only have 3 Friday fixtures in the next 4 rounds while in comparison the Pro12 has 12.

[mikerob]

Is there any reason to think they wouldn't give other games the Red Button treatment, as they do for the Heineken? It works for them there.

Cost? They still need to book satellite trucks, TV crew and all the other facilities for red button and there are 22 rounds of games for the regular season.

[ColinM]

Is there any reason to think they wouldn't give other games the Red Button treatment, as they do for the Heineken? It works for them there.

They'll send cameras to all the games for the highlights/magazine shows they do but there must be a much bigger operation to screen games live in production terms not including needing commentary teams on hand or in the ground. Sending a couple of cameras and then later editing out a couple of key moments with a voiceover could be more cost effective.

I'd have thought they would book a couple of regular slots for live RDP12 games, perhaps a Friday night live and one or two Saturday KOs. When we're at home on a Friday night its likely to get airtime ahead of most other games, but we will likely lose out on the games away from home in Italy etc. As said Sky like the big game atmosphere which is unlikely to be rivalled on a Friday night except for when Leinster and/or Munster are at home.

[ColinM]

Actually, harking back to the old days of Setanta coverage, they used to screen whole matches in the middle of the night at times. That type of thing would be a good half way house

[Moiraman]

Can't see many being happy with this deal if it transpires unless terrestial broadcasters have highlights like ITV do with the Aviva Premiership. If no terrestial highlights package, for most rugby viewers here it could mean no chance to see Ulster on TV in the Pro 12 apart from brief clips on news programmes. I would rather the Pro 12 was FTA as it is now. If at present you have got a satellite dish and can get RTE/TG4 all matches covered in the competition that are shown live you can see apart from a few in Italy. So keep things as they are I say.